June 22 is the deadline for applications to the NFL’s supplemental draft. Quarterback Brendan Sorsby has already applied, and while the league has stayed silent so far, the timing lines up with the application window not yet closing. After the deadline, the NF
Brendan Sorsby applied for the NFL’s supplemental draft last week, and since then the league has offered no clarity on whether he will be included—or even whether a supplemental draft will be conducted.
That silence has sparked speculation that the NFL might be trying to keep Sorsby out. But the calendar provides a simpler explanation: the application deadline hasn’t come and gone.
Today, June 22, is the deadline for applying for the supplemental draft.
It would be in line with how the process works for the league to wait until all applications are submitted. then determine whether the applicants fit the Collective Bargaining Agreement’s definition of eligibility for the supplemental draft. After that. the NFL would be expected to announce the supplemental draft pool along with other details. especially the specific date when the draft will be held.
Sorsby appears to qualify. He was not eligible for the April draft because he did not apply for early admission. Since then, he has lost his NCAA eligibility, which would make him eligible for the supplemental draft.
Still, the NFL could try to manufacture a technical argument for why Sorsby doesn’t qualify. One possible line would be to contend that Sorsby was actually eligible for the April draft because he knew or should have known he had lost his remaining NCAA eligibility.
Another route would be to argue that Sorsby was eligible for the 2026 college football season. pointing to the court order he secured on June 8. The league could then claim that dropping the lawsuit that produced that order—specifically for purposes of becoming eligible for the supplemental draft—does not count.
But it’s unlikely the NFL pursues either approach. If the league intends to impose a sanction on Sorsby. it would make more sense to wait until after he’s drafted. At that point. the Commissioner would have full authority to impose an integrity-of-the-game suspension on Sorsby and to have exclusive say over the inevitable NFLPA grievance.
That power matters because Sorsby currently isn’t in the NFLPA. An attempt to block him from the supplemental draft could trigger legal action from Sorsby, with NFL nemesis Jeffrey Kessler leading the challenge. In that kind of dispute, a judge—not the Commissioner—would have the final say.
So while the league has not confirmed what it will do, the path forward looks straightforward: Sorsby likely will be allowed to enter the supplemental draft after the June 22 deadline.
Once drafted, though, the NFL could attempt action. The question would then be whether it could do so, even if it “shouldn’t,” based on the precedents tied to Kayshon Boutte and Hunter Dekkers.
That’s where one key claim gets swallowed by the broader argument that a college football player who bet on his own team should be punished by the NFL. Boutte and Dekkers did the same thing Sorsby did. Boutte even played in one or more games on which he wagered at LSU.
Because the NFL took no action against either Boutte or Dekkers, the expectation here is that the NFL should take no action against Sorsby as well.
NFL supplemental draft Brendan Sorsby June 22 deadline Collective Bargaining Agreement NFLPA Jeffrey Kessler court order June 8 Kayshon Boutte Hunter Dekkers